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Thread: Drone rearing

  1. #1
    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Default Drone rearing

    I would be interested in raising my own queens from AMM stock, But should I not also give consideration to raising Drones, if I raised drones are they not drifters and once allowed fly I could not be sure of what colony they belong too or if they were mine. How would I keep them until they are sexually mature.
    If I had an unmated queen would she still produce viable drones if confined.

  2. #2

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    Hi Greengage
    The serious breeders try to either get all the local beekeepers on board or keep their drone producing hives in an isolated spot and take their mini nucs with virgins to that apiary for mating
    That's difficult to achieve as drones are found a long way from home very commonly having hopped from hive to hive
    All the drones your queen produces are only her genes so "pure" in that sense so if you had one say Amm queen you could graft and produce 10 cross bred open mated daughters then take those to your isolated mating station
    All their drones would still be Amm
    You can get a different Amm queen and graft from her now then take her daughters in mininucs to your mating station to be mated by the Amm drones

    In practice its best to have a bigger gene pool than relying on 2 pure Amm queens
    You get plenty drones if you put a couple of super frames in among the full size frames in a broodbox

    Sounds simple but without an island it might be frustratingly hard O:-)

  3. #3
    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Cheers tks for that , I live on a big island behind a bigger island on the edge of a continent does that count

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greengage View Post
    I would be interested in raising my own queens from AMM stock, But should I not also give consideration to raising Drones, if I raised drones are they not drifters and once allowed fly I could not be sure of what colony they belong too or if they were mine. How would I keep them until they are sexually mature.
    If I had an unmated queen would she still produce viable drones if confined.
    Drones drifting into the wider community isn't a bad thing (unless you mean that you're planning to use AI); I doubt that it matters where they live so long as they find their way to a Drone Congregation area. That said, I marked a considerable number of drones in random hives this year and was surprised at how few actually turned up in other hives. I'll repeat, but with tighter recording next year. May even try again this week, time permitting, to see if there's a different result.

    Their presence also acts as a good guage to what's happening in the colony nutritionally.

    I wrote earlier this year about starting to use foundation again after several years. Since then, it's occurred to me that I need to provide space for easy drone comb production (not keen on single combs of drone cells as it goes against my ideas of what probably makes a healthy nest environment) so that'll be factored into next year's plan.

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    Great i will mark some drones and observe where they go.

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Recommended for drone info:

    Steve Taber 'Breeding Super Bees'.

    John Atkinson 'Background to Bee Breeding'.

    There are also some interesting articles linked in the Q Rearing by Numbers thread:

    http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...ing-by-numbers
    Last edited by prakel; 19-08-2015 at 08:20 AM.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greengage View Post
    Cheers tks for that , I live on a big island behind a bigger island on the edge of a continent does that count
    It does if you can get rid of any other beekeepers and their hives

  8. #8
    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    You know the funny thing is that all the beekeepers i have met so far indicate that they are in favour of having AMM in their hives I have not met one person yet who said the want buckfast, or any other bees now is that just me, Any beekeeper who admitted to having bees with yellow banding are looking to requeen with Amm queens.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    There is definitely a resurgence of interest in the native bee in Ireland. The success of NIHBS and the events organised by it is evidence of this.
    There are people making a full time living using Amm stock such as Aoife Nic Giolla Coda, Coolmore bees and others.
    We have some good Amm stock in Ireland but it is under threat from hybridisation.
    The bee traders often work with Buckfast bringing in stock from Denmark or Germany.

    Getting the neighbours working together is crucial if you want to make progress. The Galtee people have managed this and they have some really good stock now after 25 years of selection.
    Starting up a queen rearing/bee breeding group is a good starting point.

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    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    Yep - for beginners the back bee is thumbs up !

    I see Coolmore are sold out of queens
    Last edited by busybeephilip; 19-08-2015 at 03:02 PM.

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